The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1887-06-14

/ az least ~ 10 OU IN Tie reSlmeQGdl
supply Is it possible under modern
fire to send cartriiallss,, ocs &c th5 fighting
line? / doubt It,
MOVING AT LAST.
Every nation has either definitely
adopted or is experimenting with a
view to deciding on some form of
magazine We, too, have, [ believe,
made up our minds to follow suit, and
l venture to think our authorities are
! to. be congratulated on having de
termined to do so rather than to re-
arm our infantry with an ordinary
breech loader, as was proposed but
SIX month ago. / have here, by the
kindness of the Secretary of State
/ for War, two rifes-the one known
as the Lee Burton, the other as the
Improved Lee. OF each of these
rifles limited number will be manu-
featured and issued to the army for
trial, but no pattern of magazine
rife has as yet been definitely settled
on for the future armament or our
troops. In England we are about to
adopt magazine rifle. l should,
speaking for myself, like to see ex-
periments conducted under public
conditions with bores smaller than
Oh. 1t must not be forgotten that a
Government rifle designer has not
the free hand a private one has. He
can do as he likes with regard to car
tridge-cases, powder, and bullets.
The Government official has to con-
suit two other departments, who may
not agree in his views. To have a
life to fulfil the most necessary
quality in a good military arm-viz.,
fiat trajectory-a small bore is an alb
solute necessity.
POWDER.
On the Continent large number
of experiments have been made with
compressed powder, and it seems DIES
tined to come into universal use, be-
cause with it the charge can be made
more uniform, and hence more uni
form veIocities obtained. Here let
me draw your attention to the desira-
bility Of using smokeless powder. A
considerable amount of attention has
been given to this question on the
Continent, and [ need hardly point
out the enormous advantage to be
gained from it.
MAGAZINE RIFLES ON THE CONTINENT.
All forms of magazine can, SO far
as their position is concerned, be
divided into four classes:-1. In the
butt. 2. Under the barrel. 3. Over
the barrel. 4. Under the breach.
No nation has the frst-named, except
Russia, IN the Evans repeater. The
second has been adopted in France
(Kropatscheck), Germany (Mauser),
Switzerland (YerteIli), Sweden (Jar
NANNY, Portugal (Kropatscheck). 1t
has the advantage of giving room for
a number Of cartridges, but the very
great disadvantage, which it shares
with first position, of being difficult
to load. Moreover, the balance of
the rifle is altered each time shot is
fired The German rifle is very
faulty IN this respect, and is, when
the magazine is filed, an extremely
awkward and Unbalanced weapon,
besides being very heavy. Over the
barrel is extremely awkward for the
soldier, and in the case of those wea-
pons which have the magazines on
one side is bad for aiming, especially
when the sun is shining from the
opposite side to that on which it is
fixed. The Burton, the Lee Burton,
and the Owen Jones, have such maya
zines. Underneath the breech is the
best The rife is more compact and
better balanced. Its sole disadvan
tage is that it is difficult to arrange
for more than five cartridges. The
Mannlicher, the Schulhoff, the Pieri,
and the Lee and the Improved Lee
all have this form Of magazine. All
hold five cartridges except the Schulz
hoff, which will take 10 arranged
round a drum like a revolver. Should
the magazine be attachable OF fixed
that is, form part of the rife? [
think the latter plan to be prefera-
Die, because there is then no chance
of its being lost at the moment it is
wanted, and if a number of loose
magazines are to be carried, or the
cartridges have to be packed in spe-
cial attachable frames, the armament
becomes more costly, and a lot of un
necessary weight has to be carried.
The theory, one I think essentially of
peace, that the soldier can carry one
or two magazines which can be affixed
just at the most critical moment of
combat, leaves out of consideration
the disturbing elements of the fight
which would in all probability render
it very problematical whether all the
magazines would be forthcoming and
if they were would certainly inter
fere with the fixing of large pro
portion of them. No great Europe
an nation proposes to adopt such a
system, such as you have here in tie
first form of the Lee rife. In rifles
like the Mannlicher, the Lee, the I'm
proved Lee, the Pieri, the cartridges
can be very easily replaced, and con-
sequently a more prolonged intense
- xrrhO1, 4loIe